chapter 3

The Interaction

• Interaction models
– translations between user and system
• Ergonomics
– physical characteristics of interaction
• Interaction styles
– the nature of user/system dialog
• Context
– social, organizational, motivational
2
 Models of interaction

• The terms of interaction

• The execution–evaluation cycle

• The interaction framework

3
 Some terms of interaction

• Traditionally, the purpose of an interactive system is to aid a user in

accomplishing goals from some application domain

Domain – the area of work under study (e.g. graphic design)

Goal – The desired output from a performed task(what you want to
achieve)
e.g. create a solid red triangle
Task – how you go about doing it (Task analysis involves the identification
of
the problem space )
– ultimately in terms of operations or actions (e.g. select fill tool,., etc)

• The use of terms differs a lot, especially task/goal.

4
 Execution/evaluation loop
• Norman’s model of interaction is perhaps the most influential in
Human-Computer Interaction, possibly because of its closeness to
our intuitive understanding of the interaction between human user
and computer.
• The interactive cycle can be divided into two major phases:
execution and evaluation which can then be subdivided into further
stages, seven in all.
• The stages in Norman’s model of interaction are as follows:
– user establishes the goal
– formulates intention
– specifies actions at interface
– executes action
– perceives system state
– interprets system state
– evaluates system state with respect to goal 5
Execution/evaluation loop

goal

execution evaluation
system
• user establishes the goal
• formulates intention
• specifies actions at interface
• executes action
• perceives system state
• interprets system state
• evaluates system state with respect to goal

6
Execution/evaluation loop(cont.)

goal

execution evaluation
system
• user establishes the goal
• formulates intention
• specifies actions at interface
• executes action
• perceives system state
• interprets system state
• evaluates system state with respect to goal

7
Execution/evaluation loop(cont.)

goal

execution evaluation
system
• user establishes the goal
• formulates intention
• specifies actions at interface
• executes action
• perceives system state
• interprets system state
• evaluates system state with respect to goal

8
 Using Norman’s model

• Norman uses this model of interaction to demonstrate why some

interfaces cause problems to their users.
• He describes these in terms as follows :
– Gulf of Execution:
The difference between the user’s formulation of the actions to reach the
goal and the actions allowed by the system

– Gulf of Evaluation:
The distance between the physical representation of the system’s state and
the user’s expectations.

* Norman model concentrates wholly on the user’s view of the

interaction. 9
 The interaction framework

Abowd and Beale’s framework is an extension of Norman model.

•Their interaction framework has 4 parts
– user O
output
– input
– system S U
core task
– output I
input
The general interaction framework

•Each has its own unique language(User’s task language and the
System’s core language).
•Interaction  translation between languages
– problems in interaction = problems in translation 10
 Using Abowd & Beale’s model
• User intentions
 translated into actions at the interface
 translated into alterations of system state
 reflected in the output display
 interpreted by the user
• General framework for understanding interaction
– not restricted to electronic computer systems
– identifies all major components involved in interaction
– allows comparative assessment of systems
• There are four main translations involved in the interaction:
articulation, performance, presentation and observation.

11
Translations between
 Ergonomics

• Physical aspects of interfaces industrial interfaces

• Study of the physical characteristics of interaction

• Also known as human factors – but this can also be used to

mean much of HCI.

• Ergonomics is good at defining standards and guidelines for

constraining the way we design certain aspects of systems

12
 Ergonomics - examples

• Arrangement of controls and displays

e.g. controls grouped according to function or frequency of use,
or sequentially
• Surrounding environment
e.g. seating arrangements adaptable to cope with all sizes of user
• Health issues
e.g. physical position, environmental conditions (temperature,
humidity, lighting, noise, Time).
• Use of colour
e.g. use of red for warning, green for okay,
awareness of colour-blindness etc.
13
 Office Interface
Definition:
An office interface refers to the tools and systems used in a traditional office
environment to facilitate communication, collaboration, and administrative tasks.
Key Characteristics:
• User-centric: Designed for ease of use by office workers.
•Software Focused: Often involves applications like word processors, spreadsheets,
email clients, and collaboration tools (e.g., Microsoft Office, Google Workspace).
•Graphical User Interface (GUI): Emphasizes visual elements for user interaction,
such as windows, icons, and menus.
•Functionality: Primarily focused on productivity, data management, and
communication.
Examples:
•Email systems (e.g., Outlook)
•Project management tools (e.g., Asana, Trello)
•Document editing software (e.g., Word, Excel) 14
 Industrial Interface
Definition:
An industrial interface involves communication and interaction
points between machines, devices, and systems in industrial settings,
enabling automation and control.
Key Characteristics:
• System-Centric: Designed for functionality and reliability in industrial
operations.
• Hardware and Software Integration: Combines physical devices (sensors,
actuators) with software systems (PLC, SCADA).
• Real-Time Communication: Supports immediate data exchange and control for
operational efficiency.
• Robustness: Built to withstand harsh environments and provide high reliability.
Examples:
• Human-Machine Interfaces (HMI) for monitoring machines
15
• Machine-to-Machine (M2M) communication protocols
 Office Interface vs. Industrial Interface

*Both interfaces serve critical roles in their respective environments, tailored

16
 Glass interfaces
Definition:
Glass interfaces refer to transparent screens or surfaces that provide interactive
capabilities, often found in modern technology applications. They allow users
to interact with digital content while also seeing through the interface.
Key Characteristics
1.Transparency: Allows users to view the physical environment while
interacting with digital information.
2.Touch Sensitivity: Many glass interfaces are touch-enabled, allowing users to
control devices through gestures and taps.
3.High Resolution: Typically feature high-definition displays for clear and
detailed visuals.
4.Durability: Often made from tempered or chemically strengthened glass,
making them resistant to scratches and impacts.
5.Integration with Technology: Can incorporate augmented reality (AR)
features, displaying digital overlays on the physical world . 17
Applications
Glass interfaces (count.)
•Smartphones and tablets: The most common use, where glass interfaces serve as
the primary means of interaction.
•Smart Glass Displays: Used in retail, museums, and exhibitions to enhance user
experience.
•Augmented Reality Devices: Such as smart glasses, which overlay digital
information onto the real world.
Benefits
•Enhanced User Experience: Combines physical and digital interactions seamlessly.
•Aesthetic Appeal: Sleek and modern design that fits into various environments.
•Versatility: Applicable across multiple industries, including consumer electronics,
automotive, and hospitality.
Challenges
•Cost: High-quality glass displays can be expensive to produce.
•Fragility: While durable, they can still break or shatter under certain conditions.
•Visibility in Bright Light: Can sometimes be difficult to see in direct sunlight or
bright environments.
18
 Indirect manipulation
• Office– direct manipulation
system
– user interacts with artificial world
• Industrial – indirect manipulation
– user interacts with real world through the interface.
– Key Characteristics(Remote Operation, Use of Interfaces,
Automation, Data Feedback).
– Applications (Manufacturing, Robotics, etc.).
– Benefits(Increased Safety, Efficiency, Flexibility).
– Challenges(Complexity, Training Needs). interface plant

immediate
feedback

instruments
19
 Interaction styles
• Interaction can be seen as a dialog between the computer
and the user.
• common interface styles including:
– command line interface
– menus
– natural language
– question/answer and query dialogue
– form-fills and spreadsheets
– WIMP
– point and click
– three–dimensional interfaces

20
 Command line interface
• Way of expressing instructions to the computer directly
– function keys, single characters, short abbreviations, whole
words, or a combination

• suitable for repetitive tasks

• better for expert users than novices
• offers direct access to system functionality
• command names/abbreviations should be meaningful!

Typical example: the Unix system

21
 Menus

• Set of options displayed on the screen

• Options visible
– less recall - easier to use
– rely on recognition so names should be meaningful
• Selection by:
– numbers, letters, arrow keys, mouse
– combination (e.g. mouse plus accelerators)
• Often options hierarchically grouped
– sensible grouping is needed
• Restricted form of full WIMP system
22
 Natural language
• A natural language interface (NLI) allows users to interact
with a computer system using everyday language, such as
spoken or written words.
• Key Characteristics(User-Friendly, Understanding Context, Voice
and Text Input, Machine Learning).
• Applications(Virtual Assistant “Siri”, Chatbots)
• Benefits (Accessibility, Improved Interaction, Efficiency)
• Challenges (Ambiguity, Complexity of Language, Data Privacy)
• Solutions
– try to understand a subset
– pick on keywords
23
 Query interfaces

• Question/answer interfaces
– User-led through interaction via a series of questions
– suitable for novice users but restricted functionality
– often used in information systems

• Query languages (e.g. SQL)

– used to retrieve information from database
– requires understanding of database structure and language
syntax, hence requires some expertise

24
 Form-fills

• Primarily for data entry or data retrieval

• Screen like paper form.
• Data put in a relevant place
• Requires
– good design
– obvious correction facilities

25
 Spreadsheets

• First spreadsheet VisiCalc, followed by Lotus 1-

2-3
MS Excel most common today
• Sophisticated variation of form-filling.
– grid of cells contain a value or a formula
– formula can involve values of other cells
e.g. sum of all cells in this column
– user can enter and alter data spreadsheet maintains
consistency
26
 WIMP Interface

Windows
Icons
Menus
Pointers
… or windows, icons, mice, and pull-down menus!

• default style for majority of interactive computer systems,

especially PCs and desktop machines

27
 Point and click interfaces

• used in ..
– multimedia
– web browsers
– hypertext

• just click something!

– icons, text links or location on map

• minimal typing
28
 Three-dimensional interfaces

• Virtual reality
• ‘ordinary’ window systems
– highlighting flat buttons …
– visual affordance
– indiscriminate use click me!
just confusing!
… or sculptured
• 3D workspaces
– use for extra virtual space
– light and occlusion give depth
– distance effects
29
 Elements of the wimp interface

• key features of the WIMP interface that give it its name

windows, icons, menus and pointers.
• There are also many additional interaction objects and
techniques commonly used in WIMP interfaces such as
buttons, toolbars, palettes, dialog boxes .

30
 Windows
• Areas of the screen that behave as if they were independent
– can contain text or graphics
– can be moved or resized
– can overlap and obscure each other, or can be laid out next to one
another (tiled)

• scrollbars
– allow the user to move the contents of the window up and down or from
side to side
• title bars
– describe the name of the window

31
 Icons

• Small picture or image

• represents some object in the interface
– often a window or action
• windows can be closed down (iconised)
– small representation fi many accessible windows
• icons can be many and various
– highly stylized
– realistic representations.

32
 Pointers

• important component
– WIMP style relies on pointing and selecting things
• uses mouse, trackpad, joystick, trackball, cursor
keys or keyboard shortcuts
• wide variety of graphical images

33
 Menus

• Choice of operations or services offered on the screen

• Required option selected with pointer
File Edit Options Font
Typewriter
Screen
Times

problem – take a lot of screen space

solution – pop-up: menu appears when needed

34
 Kinds of Menus
• Menu Bar at top of screen (normally), menu drags down
– pull-down menu - mouse hold and drag down menu
– drop-down menu - mouse click reveals menu
– fall-down menus - mouse just moves over bar!

• Contextual menu appears where you are

– pop-up menus - actions for selected object
– pie menus - arranged in a circle
• easier to select item (larger target area)
• quicker (same distance to any option)
… but not widely used!

35
 Menus extras

• Cascading menus
– hierarchical menu structure
– menu selection opens new menu
– and so in ad infinitum

• Keyboard accelerators
– key combinations - same effect as menu item
– two kinds
• active when menu open – usually first letter
• active when menu closed – usually Ctrl + letter
usually different !!!

36
 Menus design issues

• which kind to use

• what to include in menus at all
• words to use (action or description)
• how to group items
• choice of keyboard accelerators

37
 Buttons

• Individual and isolated regions within a display

that can be selected to invoke an action

• Special kinds
– radio buttons
– set of mutually exclusive choices
– check boxes
– set of non-exclusive choices

38
 Toolbars

• long lines of icons …

… but what do they do?

• fast access to common actions

• often customizable:
– choose which toolbars to see
– choose what options are on it

39
 Palettes and tear-off menus
• Problem
menu not there when you want it

• Solution
palettes – little windows of actions
– shown/hidden via menu option
e.g. available shapes in drawing package
tear-off and pin-up menus
– menu ‘tears off’ to become palette

40
 Dialogue boxes

• Information windows that pop up to inform of

an important event or request information.

e.g: when saving a file, a dialogue box is displayed

to allow the user to specify the filename and
location. Once the file is saved, the box disappears.

41
 Interactivity
• Easy to focus on look, what about feeling?
• Speech–driven interfaces: Rapidly improving but still inaccurate.
e.g. airline reservation: reliable “yes” and “no”
+ system reflects back its understanding.
• WIMP systems have the same elements(windows, icons, menus,
pointers, buttons, etc.)but different window systems behave
differently(e.g. MacOS vs Windows menus)
appearance + behaviour = look and feel
• Context: Interaction affected by social and organizational context
other people desire to impress, competition, fear of failure
motivation,fear, allegiance, ambition, self-satisfaction
inadequate systems cause frustration and lack of motivation

42
 Experience, engagement, and fun
• It’s not sufficient that people can use a system, they must
want to use it.
• The more experiential aspects of interaction will be
discussed such as:
• Designing experience
• Physical engagement
• Managing value

43
 Understanding Experience
• Home, entertainment, shopping
– not enough that people can use a system
– they must want to use it!

• Psychology of experience
– flow (Csikszentimihalyi)
– balance between anxiety and boredom

• Education
– zone of proximal development
– things you can just do with help

• Wider ...
– literary analysis, film studies, drama
44
 Designing experience

• real crackers
– cheap and cheerful!
– bad joke, plastic toy, paper hat
– pull and bang

45
 Designing experience

• Virtual crackers
– cheap and cheerful
– bad joke, web toy, cut-out mask
– click and bang

46
 How crackers work
fill in web form

sender receive email recipient

To: wxv
From: ..

closed
cracker page

open
watches recipient clicks
message cracker opens ...
progress
very slowly
open
cracker page
sender joke
links

mask web toy

47
 The crackers experience

Real cracker Virtual cracker

Surface elements
design cheap and cheerful simple page/graphics
play plastic toy and joke web toy and joke
dressing up paper hat mask to cut out
Experienced effects
shared offered to another sent by email message
co-experience pulled together sender can't see content
until opened by recipient
excitement cultural connotations recruited expectation
hiddenness contents inside first page - no contents
suspense pulling cracker slow ... page change
surprise bang (when it works) WAV file (when it works)
48
 Physical design

• many constraints:
– ergonomic – minimum button size
– physical – high-voltage switches are big
– legal and safety – high cooker controls
– context and environment – easy to clean
– aesthetic – must look good
– economic – … and not cost too much!

49
 Design trade-offs

constraints are contradictory … need trade-offs

within categories:
e.g. safety – cooker controls
front panel – safer for adult
rear panel – safer for child

between categories
e.g. ergonomics vs. physical – MiniDisc remote
ergonomics – controls need to be bigger
physical – no room!
solution – multifunction controls & reduced functionality
50
 Fluidity

• do external physical aspects reflect logical effect?

– related to affordance.

logical state revealed in physical state?

e.g. on/off buttons

inverse actions inverse effects?

e.g. arrow buttons, twist controls

51
 Inverse actions

• yes/no buttons
– well sort of

• ‘joystick’

• also left side control

52
 Spring back controls

• one-shot buttons
• joystick
• some sliders

good – large selection sets

bad – hidden state

53
 A minidisk controller

twist for track movement

series of spring-back controls pull and twist for volume
each cycle through some options – spring back
–natural inverse back/forward – natural inverse for twist
54
 Physical layout

controls:
logical relationship
~ spatial grouping

55
 Compliant interaction

state evident in rotary knobs reveal internal state and

mechanical buttons can be controlled by both user and
machine
56
 Managing value

People use something

ONLY IF
it has perceived value
AND
value exceeds cost

BUT NOTE
• exceptions (e.g. habit)
• value NOT necessarily personal gain or money

57
 Weighing up value

value
• helps me get my work done
• fun
• good for others

cost
• download time
• money £, $, €
• learning effort

58
 Value and organizational design

• coercion
• tell people what to do!
• value = keep your job
• enculturation
• explain corporate values
• establish support (e.g share options)
• emergence
• design process so that
individuals value  organisational value

59